October Surprise Storm

Our trees here in Buffalo, have been devastated by a freak October snow storm that covered them in heavy wet snow. The weight pulled branches and whole trees to the ground. Many, many of our trees have been killed and many more severely injured. It is heartbreaking and unsettling to see the results of the storm on street after street. Mother nature broke the limbs and broke our hearts!

My young Sugar Maple turns the most beautiful orange and red every year. It is a spectacular sight to see it in it’s Autumn glow, backlit by the sun but then it drops it’s leaves frustratingly early in the season and the show is over! I’ve always wished that it would hold it’s leaves longer. That is, until now. The Sugar Maple suffered no damage in Buffalo’s Surprise October storm because the bare branches were able to support the weight of the heavy snow. It would have been a different story if there had been leaves on the tree for the snow to cling to.

I now see my little tree as wise beyond it’s years and now I will no longer mourn when it drops it’s foliage. The tree (unlike me) is prepared for another winter.

We will feel better when the debris is picked up and cleared away. I believe that there is another lesson for us this Spring that will make us feel even better yet. Many of our trees will not only survive but they will come back all the better after their natural pruning. It may seem to us that nature turned on itself but that is never the case. New trees and shrubs soon will replace those we lost. Nothing lasts forever but nature tells us (over and over again) that all is renewed.